Reality of Claimed Hepatitis C Cure

A study out of Virginia Commonwealth University suggests that a "cure" for hepatitis C has been found. If you read closely, you'll realize that this is nothing more than savvy marketing for Roche. Can you spot the hype?

"This paper strongly suggests, for the first time, that hepatitis C is a curable disease," said lead researcher Dr. Mitchell Shiffman, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and chief of hepatology and medical director of the school's Liver Transplant Program. "After treatment, 99.6 percent of the patients remained virus undetectable for over five years," he added. [..]

The researchers found that 99 percent of patients with hepatitis C who were treated successfully with peginterferon alone, or in combination with ribavirin, had no detectable virus up to seven years later.

If you caught the qualifier -- 99 percent of patients with hepatitis C
who were treated successfully -- good job! The study analyzed 997
patients who fit their criteria, and all but eight of them remained virus free for an average of 4.1 years.

Which is great for people with hepatitis C... if the drugs work for them. A separate analysis of clinical trial results shows that 56% of patients treated with both peginterferon (PEGASYS) and ribavirin (COPEGUS) remained virus free after 24 weeks, as did 30% of the patients who received peginterferon alone.

The new study is simply a longer-term followup of a larger sample of patients. The results suggest that if the treatment works initially, there's a good chance it will last for a while. Congratulations.

If not? Well, you don't count. Sorry, and good luck.

Update (5/22 1:13pm): I originally misidentified the pharmaceutical company behind peginterferon and ribavirin as Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, instead of Roche.

Study Suggests Cure for Hepatitis C [Forbes]